01What Somvati Amavasya is
Somvati Amavasya is an Amavasya that falls on a Monday, Somvar, the weekday of the Moon. The pairing is not common: it comes up one to three times in a year, and now and then a year has none. The tradition holds the meeting of the new moon with the Moon's own day in particular regard, and says a river bath on it counts for as much as many on ordinary days. It is above all an observance of married women, kept with a vow at the peepal tree, and it carries everything that belongs to any Amavasya as well: tarpan for the pitri and charity.
02How the day and time are worked out
The page takes each Amavasya on the day its tithi holds at sunrise, the same rule as the Amavasya list, and keeps those whose day is a Monday. The weekday therefore follows the sunrise: an Amavasya that begins on a Monday afternoon and holds the next sunrise is a Tuesday Amavasya, not a Somvati one, while one that began on Sunday and is still current at sunrise on Monday is Somvati. Because sunrise differs across India, a tithi that ends close to dawn can make the day Somvati in one city and not in another, which is why the list is worked out for your city.
03How it is kept
Married women keep Somvati Amavasya as a fast, often in silence until the puja is done, for the wellbeing of their husbands and families as the tradition describes it. The peepal tree is at the centre: it is worshipped with water, milk, sindoor and flowers, and a cotton thread is wound around its trunk as the women walk around it, by custom one hundred and eight times, with a small offering at each round. The katha of the day is read aloud. A morning river bath is widely kept, and families make tarpan for the pitri and give food and clothes in charity.
04The rest of the calendar
